Writing, Editing, Photography and Styling

Style

Style is …

Photos by Melanie Warner Spencer

There are certain people, places, objects and cultural icons that are imbued with charm, style and grace.

Whether it’s the chic woman in a coffee shop with a silken scarf tied around her handbag, a comfortable, yet well-appointed room, a simple vase handed down by your grandmother or Audrey Hepburn lighting up the screen, we know something that is refined when we see it.

So, how can we find our own charm, style and grace?

First, keep up with the Bon Vivant blog. Second, begin “curating” your life. Pare it down until you are surrounded by the people and things that you love and let the rest fall away from your world.

The more noise, clutter, drama and junk filling your life, the less you will be able to see and enjoy the beautiful moments, your favorite friends and family members and the meaningful items you use to brighten your home and office.

More than anything, being refined is about quality over quantity, a concept often lost in our consumer-driven society.

Style is something that evolves for each one of us over time. It’s personal and when you find it, the need to acquire more “stuff” ceases to exist, because rather than just scooping up every bargain or trend, you’ll want to wait until you find just the right thing.

Grace, admittedly, takes a bit more practice, but if the effort is made, it begins to become second-nature. At the root of grace is kindness. If you start there, you’ll almost never fail.

Write that thank you note, help someone who is loaded down with packages, listen, say hello. These little things could mean so much to another person.

No one is perfect, but we can at least try, which is half the battle. One day, we’ll wake up and our closets, cabinets, shelves, rooms, offices and lives will be chocked full of beauty, maybe not expensive, luxury goods (which doesn’t matter), but the best we can afford of everything and everyone important to us.